


The Angel in the Room

by mggislife2789



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Gen, Take Your Kid To Work Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-13 02:27:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14740308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mggislife2789/pseuds/mggislife2789
Summary: Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or their original stories. This is only for fun. It's where my brain goes after the credits roll. No copyright intended. Better safe than sorry. ;)





	The Angel in the Room

Take your kid to work day was not something that Alex could stomach - not after Ethan died, but Eleanor really wanted to get up close and personal with what her mother did for a living, see if it was something she wanted to do for herself. Plus, she knew Spencer was going to be at work and she wanted to play chess with him again.

“Mom, please?”

The idea of introducing her baby girl to that life was off-putting, but she kept begging and begging, and keeping her from things like this just because of her own hang-ups about Ethan and what he hadn’t been able to experience in his young life wasn’t fair. “Okay, okay. You can take off from school tomorrow and come with me.”

“Yes!” 

Alex smiled at her little Ellie. Not so little anymore. “You just want to play chess with Spencer again.”

“I do,” she laughed. “But I also want to figure out what I want to do for a living. I figured I should start at home.” 

A few months ago, Spencer had come home with her mother to have dinner and do a couple crossword puzzles. Something about the younger agent’s sadness made Ellie think her mother was trying to take Spencer’s mind off things. What was wrong she wasn’t sure, and she didn’t want to invade his privacy and ask. Despite their 15 year age gap, Ellie and Spencer had a lot in common and spent nearly the entire night playing chess while her mother watched. It made him smile. Ellie liked it when he smiled. He kind of reminded her of her older brother.

Tomorrow was going to be fun. 

—–

Alex couldn’t wipe the smile off her face upon seeing her daughter’s excitement. “Do you think what I do is something you really might want to do some day?”

“It’s crossed my mind,” Ellie replied. “I know I want to help people, but I’m not sure exactly how just yet. I figured coming here might help me narrow it down.”

There was a part of Alex that didn’t want her daughter to go into this field, but she wasn’t about to stop her if that was truly what she wanted. As the elevator reached the bullpen, Spencer was walking from the break room where the coffee was, blowing gently on the steaming hot cup in his hand. “Ellie! Hi!” He beamed.

“Sure, you just work with me. No need to be happy to see me,” Alex said sarcastically, a little smirk lighting up her eyes.

“Hi, Alex,” Spencer said. “Coffee? I didn’t realize you were coming in, Ellie, or I would’ve gotten you a coffee too.”

“She drinks too much of it as it is,” Alex laughed as she took the cup from Spencer’s hands. 

Ellie hip-checked her mother as they walked into the bullpen, greeting the rest of the BAU, as well as a number of other Bureau employees before Hotch came out of his office with a smile that he didn’t get to show much inside these walls. 

Even though Alex wasn’t keen on Ellie joining the Bureau, or really law enforcement in general, she took a step back while the rest of the team introduced her teenage daughter to every aspect of FBI life - everything from the boring file room to Garcia’s bat cave, filled with trinkets and color to counter balance the bullshit on her screens, to the bullpen where her mother and her chess partner sat to the offices of the major runners of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit. 

“So what do you think, Ellie?” Hotch asked, eyeing Alex in an attempt to say ‘I understand you. I wouldn’t want Jack to work here either.’

Ellie wasn’t exactly sure. She didn’t regret coming in - not by a long shot, but you know the saying, Rome wasn’t built in a day? Well, a decision about her life couldn’t be made in a visit. She’d always had a very high IQ and for the longest time she’d been vacillating between following in her mother’s footsteps and pursuing medical school. As of right now, she was more on the side of medicine. “Not sure. I’ve always wanted to go to medical school. I’d like to become an obstetric surgeon.”

“You should absolutely do that!” Alex exclaimed, pointing at her daughter.

Ellie couldn’t help but laugh. Her mother’s desire to not have her follow in her footsteps was legendary. “Don’t sound too enthusiastic mom.”

After thanking everyone for their time, Ellie turned to Spencer. “I challenge you.”

“What?”

“Chess. Right now. You and me.”

“You’re on.”

Spencer had Ellie follow him into the conference room where he pulled out his chessboard. The one that Gideon had gifted him long ago. Alex went back to work, taking a little of Spencer’s paperwork in order to lessen the load on him when he returned from playing chess with her little girl. 

Glancing inside, Alex couldn’t help but feel a wash of nostalgia and sadness wash over her. Spencer was older than Ethan would’ve been now, but the way Ellie looked at him and acted with him was exactly what she would’ve expected between the two siblings had Ethan not been stolen away so young. 

A tear came to her eye as Ellie and Spencer played speed chess, staring each other down and trying to make the other look in the opposite direction so they could cheat. “Hey, no fair!” Spencer cried out, drawing the attention of the entire bullpen. “You pushed the table!”

“I didn’t mean to!” Ellie laughed, holding her stomach. 

“Lies!”

On second thought, this is exactly what Ethan would’ve wanted for his baby sister. Alex peered into the room and jokingly chastised them both and for a moment it felt like Ethan was in the room. Maybe he was - watching over them like the angel she always knew he would be.


End file.
